The Political Scene: Health Care Tactics

In this week’s Political Scene podcast, Ryan Lizza and Hendrik Hertzberg discuss the battle over health-care reform. Hertzberg explains the cynical logic behind Republican claims of “death panels” and other misinformation:

The goal of these kinds of lies is to cause a spike in the negative side of polls, in the hopes that that will cause more timid members of Congress to panic and think that they have to seek shelter from this storm. The goal is actually to affect members of Congress, so the strategy the White House has to follow is one that is aimed at them. And the polls are important, at this point, only insofar as they affect that battle.